


Two Words

by JNS



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: EFA Fic Challenge 2018, F/F, Mama Earp isn't around but this is set after s2, Nicole and Wynonna bonding, So canon-adjacent?, Sorry if I bum you out but I hope it's worth it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-04 20:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14601519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JNS/pseuds/JNS
Summary: Some days it’s not revenants or monsters, but a quiet road, slick with rain that has Nicole fearing for the life of the one person she knows she couldn’t live without.





	Two Words

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for the EFA Fic challenge. Not gonna lie, this is a lil bit of a bummer but there's a happy ending, I promise!
> 
> Didn't have as much time to work on this as I would have liked due to my trip, but big thanks to @luckywantstoknow for keeping me below the word limit!

Nicole hadn’t always hated the rain. In fact, when she was a kid she’d absolutely loved it. Splashing around in the puddles to her heart's content in the bright yellow boots her Grandmother bought her for her sixth birthday. She’d have done it all day if her dad had let her instead of ushering her inside, wrapping her up and whispering softly in her ear about catching a cold.

Since Nicole put on her badge and started her first official job as a police officer, catching a cold was the least of her worries. Bad weather only ever increased the number of accidents she and her fellow officers had to deal with. 

In Purgatory, those were the worst days. Not dealing with revenants or whatever other hellish creatures the Ghost River Triangle decided to throw at them. The days she simply had to do her job and notify the family that their loved one had been involved in an accident and, if the day was truly unforgiving, that they hadn’t made it.

Having to do that once was enough for Nicole but she’d had to be the bearer of life-shattering news on multiple occasions since she arrived in town. She was better at dealing with relatives than her fellow officers, but that didn’t mean she handled it any better afterwards.

It would destroy Nicole to have to recite those practiced words to certain people in her life, but at the same time she wouldn’t want them to hear it from anyone else. 

She didn’t think about it often…well, not _that_ often but every morning that rain or snow was forecast, Nicole would kiss Waverly goodbye and tell her to ‘be safe’ if she planned to drive that day. She did the same to Wynonna, albeit without the kiss, and she hoped the sentiment lingered after she’d left to start her own day.

It didn’t matter that Waverly’s Jeep was built to deal with adverse weather conditions or that Wynonna was more than proficient at riding her motorcycle. Nicole was just superstitious enough to believe that voicing those two little words might keep them safe. 

The morning it happened Nicole had been distracted. Wynonna was babbling about needing to get to the station ASAP to speak with Dolls and Jeremy, and how "there was no freakin’ way" she was riding in the rain. Nicole had been quietly proud of Wynonna for thinking of her own safety, and told her to jump in the cruiser, she would drive her.

She kissed Waverly goodbye and told her she loved her. She _knew_ Waverly was going to be heading into town later that day but somehow forgot to say the words.

Nicole knew it was ridiculous to blame herself as she drove to the hospital but what else could she do? What if Waverly had been distracted _because_ Nicole hadn’t said the words that always brought a smile to Waverly’s face? A smile that said “thanks for caring and I love you,” rolled into one.

Wynonna and Dolls had been closer to the hospital when Nicole called, and she made Wynonna promise to call her as soon as she got there. She still hadn’t heard from her. Her mind was stuck on a loop, telling her that meant bad news.

For the first time in her career she wished she’d been the responding officer. Not knowing Waverly’s condition was terrifying. She knew she’d have to apologize to the officer that called it in; she hadn’t exactly been professional when Waverly’s name came over the radio at the station followed by a call for an ambulance Code 3.

She’d expected Nedley to reprimand her but instead he’d shoved her jacket into her hands and told her to go.

Why was Waverly so far out of town? Nicole was afraid that she’d never be able to ask her. She wasn’t even going to think about that. Waverly was going to be fine. She had to be.

The closer Nicole got to the hospital, the more frightened she felt. She could feel the sweat beading on her forehead, hear her ragged breathing in her ears. She knew she needed to reel it in before she hyperventilated and caused an accident of her own.

Just as she parked her phone rang, Wynonna on the screen pulling an absolutely horrific face, and Nicole couldn’t help but smile for a moment. She was glad Wynonna was waiting just inside the building, she wasn’t sure she could do this without her.

“I’m just outside,” Nicole tried to sound calm. “H-have you seen her?”

“Only for a second…” Wynonna’s voice was so quiet that Nicole instantly began trembling. She shoved out of the car, slamming the door shut behind her as Wynonna spoke up again. “She’s in surgery…”

“S-surgery?! I’m coming, ok?” Nicole hung up before Wynonna could hear her sob. Nicole might have been terrified of losing Waverly, but losing Waverly would destroy Wynonna. Nicole needed to be strong; Wynonna needed Nicole to be strong.

Nicole pushed through the double doors and as soon as her eyes landed on Wynonna, all thoughts of holding strong for her fell apart. Blood stained her shirt…a shirt that just a few hours ago had been a white so pristine, Nicole had genuinely considered asking Wynonna if she’d “borrowed” it from her clean laundry pile.

Wynonna rushed forward just in time to catch Nicole before she could crumble against the cold, hard linoleum floor.

“Hey you’re alright. I’ve got you.” Wynonna guided Nicole over to the seats right across from the nurses station.

“Is that…?” Nicole gagged on the words as her eyes fixated on the blood.

“Crap.” Wynonna quickly zipped up her leather jacket and hunched down to make eye contact with Nicole. “Listen…it’s Waverly’s but she’s going to be ok.”

Nicole looked into Wynonna’s eyes, but she couldn’t tell if Wynonna truly believed those words through the tears clouding her own.

“Was she awake when you saw her?”

“Yeah…she tried to make them wait for you.” Wynonna offered a small smile as Nicole let out a watery laugh. Of course, Waverly tried to make them wait. 

“Where’s Dolls?”

“Coffee. You want some? I can call him and make sure he picks one up for you.” Wynonna squeezed Nicole’s knee as she shook her head.  
She didn’t need anything to make her more jittery than she already felt; the stress alone would keep her wide awake until she knew exactly what was happening with Waverly.  
Wynonna pushed to her feet. “Ok…I’m going to go speak to the nurse again…see if they can tell me anything more. You’ll be alright?”

“Yeah…” Nicole swallowed hard. “Yes. Just shout if you need me to flash my badge.”

“No need.” Wynonna winked and pulled Peacemaker from her holster around her waist. Nicole had barely even registered that it had been hanging off Wynonna’s hip, it was simply a part of her now. Thankfully, before Nicole could chastise her for brandishing a firearm in public, Wynonna slipped it back into her holster.

Nicole had often thought about how awful Waverly felt after the Widow bit her. Of course she’d been distraught but the _waiting_ …Nicole didn’t know how Waverly didn’t lose her mind, and Nicole had only been waiting a mere fraction of the time Waverly had.

“Hey.” Dolls’ voice, uncharacteristically soft, brought everything back into focus. He pushed one of the three coffees he had in his hands towards her and despite her earlier decision against it, she took it. She needed something to concentrate on. “How are you holding up?”

“Really?” Nicole laughed sarcastically. She shook her head and looked away towards Wynonna. The look on her face as she pleaded with the nurse was filled with worry and pain, all her earlier joking smirk had evaporated. “How do you think I’m holding up?”

“Sorry…”

“No…” Nicole deflated against the back of her chair as she cradled the unwanted coffee with both hands. _“I’m_ sorry. I’m not doing great. What even happened? I didn’t stick around the station long enough to find out.”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Her Jeep flipped, no other vehicles involved. We um…” Dolls looked at her and sighed. “We passed it on our way here. Wynonna sort of threatened the officer still at the scene for information but he couldn’t tell us anything. He just came across it on patrol and the ambulance crew loaded her in as quick as they could.”

“How long had she been there?” Nicole’s chest tightened; she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to her question.

“They don’t know,” Dolls replied and somehow that was worse. Nicole’s imagination could run wild with that, wondering how long Waverly had been alone and scared out there.

“Well, she’s useless.” Wynonna huffed as she dropped herself into the chair on the other side of Nicole. “All she can say is wait until she’s out of surgery.”

“She’s just doing her job, Earp.” Dolls said quietly, and Wynonna let out a frustrated groan. 

“Does she know when that might be?” Nicole turned in her chair to face Wynonna. She simply shook her head as she gave Nicole an apologetic grimace and took Nicole’s hand in her own.

They’d shared the occasional hug, frequent high fives while they reveled in some good-natured teasing of someone around the station and even the odd fist bump after a well-completed revenant mission, but this was new. It felt far more personal than anything they’d ever shared, and Nicole wished she could fully appreciate just how far they’d come as friends. Wynonna was comforting her while her own sister was in surgery…that wasn’t how Nicole imagined this going at all.

It felt like hours passed them by until Wynonna’s name was called, but when Nicole looked at the clock above the nurse’s head, it had barely been forty-five minutes. They rushed over to the desk, Wynonna’s hand only then leaving Nicole’s, while Dolls trailed behind.

“Your sister’s in recovery, she’s still sedated but you can go see her.”

“Oh, thank god!” Nicole collapsed forward onto the nurses station and Wynonna patted her on the back murmuring something that sounded a lot like ‘told you our girl was strong’.

“I’m sorry Deputy Haught, family only right now.” The nurse picked up a chart and walked out from behind her desk.

“She is family,”

“Miss Ear-“

“I said,” Wynonna interrupted through gritted teeth, her fists clenched at her sides. “she _is_ family.”

Nicole let a small smile creep onto her face. Waverly treated her like family, Wynonna too sometimes, when she felt like it, but to hear Wynonna so fiercely refer to her as family out loud nearly brought Nicole to tears all over again. The nurse rolled her eyes but gestured for both of them to follow her through.

“I’ll be here.” Dolls called out to them and both Nicole and Wynonna looked over their shoulders and nodded. Nicole had almost forgotten he was there.

Nicole couldn’t listen to any of the questions Wynonna was asking the nurse or the answers she was getting. She was focused solely on the fact she was about to see Waverly, in whatever state she might be. She’d be able to touch her, see her, tell her how much she loved her and how worried she’d been. Waverly might not be able to hear her but that wouldn’t stop Nicole. She’d say it over and over until Waverly woke up and then she’d say it again, until she knew for sure that Waverly had heard her.

Nicole was not prepared to see Waverly lying so still that if the monitors weren’t incessantly beeping, Nicole wouldn’t even be certain that Waverly was alive. Was this what Waverly had felt like? Seeing Nicole in a hospital bed and not knowing whether or not she was going to ever be able to hear her voice ever again?

So much happened so quickly after Nicole recovered, there was never time for them to talk about it. Nicole couldn’t bear the thought of Waverly feeling anything close to the way she felt in that moment.

“Hey babygirl.” Wynonna took a hold of Waverly’s hand and leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to her forehead. Nicole moved forward and took Waverly’s other hand in her own before she had even thought about it. It was warm, a welcome reminder that Waverly was very much still in there.

“You better recover from this…” Wynonna wiped away a few tears that had fallen as Nicole glanced up at her. “’Cause we can’t do this without you, ok?” Wynonna pressed another kiss to Waverly’s head before taking a step back and placing Waverly’s hand down as gently as possible. “I’ll be outside.”

“What?” Nicole looked at her, shocked.

“She needs you here more than she needs me…”

“Wynonna, that’s not-“

“Nicole. It’s ok.” Wynonna smiled sadly. “She needs _you._ “

“Ok.” Nicole might not have agreed with Wynonna, but she wasn’t about to argue over Waverly’s hospital bed. Not when Wynonna was gifting her time alone with the most important person in both of their lives.

“Hey baby.” Nicole sat herself down on the chair beside Waverly’s bed. She gripped Waverly’s hand in both of her own, praying that Waverly could feel she was there. “I don’t know if you can hear me. I hope you can…I love you so much and Wynonna is right. We can’t do this without you, so you need to be ok. I can’t…I _won’t_ lose you. Not like this, not until we are old and g-grey.” Nicole’s voice cracked. She’d thought about their future too much for it not to happen. She willed her tears not to start again but they came anyway.

“I didn’t tell you to be safe this morning…and it’s killing me. I know this probably would have happened anyway but…god, what if it wouldn’t have?” Nicole brought Waverly’s hand up to her quivering lips and kissed each of her fingers. There was a horrible, clinical smell on them and it made Nicole ache. She didn’t smell like _her_ Waverly, she didn’t even look like her Waverly sleeping peacefully at night. Nicole took a deep shaky breath. “I want a life with you Waverly and I know you can be so unbelievably stubborn sometimes so please, be stubborn now. Wake up and live it with me. _Please._ ”

Nicole wasn’t sure if she was imagining things, but she was positive she’d felt the hand she was holding tighten around her own. It was the tiniest amount of pressure but maybe Waverly was starting to wake up.

“Can you hear me, Waves?” Nicole squeezed her hand gently and waited for any reciprocation. Her heart sank just a little when it didn’t happen but she carried on. Even if Waverly couldn’t hear her, she needed to get this all out. “I want to marry you one day, Waverly. I want babies and cats and road trips and stupid fights and…” It happened again, she felt the lightest squeeze, but it was definitely there, and Nicole let out a happy sob. Waverly’s eyes remained closed, and she didn’t show any other signs of waking up fully but somehow Nicole just knew that Waverly could hear her.

 

Nicole must have fallen asleep at some point, her hands still wrapped protectively around one of Waverly’s. Someone was prodding her, she grumbled as she sat up and felt a twinge in her neck from the uncomfortable position she’d slumped into.

“She should have woken up by now,” Wynonna said beside her, with no apology for her rude awakening as she frowned down at Waverly.

“She will,” Nicole said firmly, not a hint of doubt in her voice or her mind, but she could see it written all over Wynonna’s face. Wynonna had held Nicole up when she’d needed it and now it was Nicole’s turn. “Wynonna. She’s going to wake up.”

“I sent Dolls to check on Calamity.” Wynonna fell back into a chair she’d obviously taken from the hallway into the room. She looked slightly appeased.

“Thank you. What time is it?” Nicole swung her head around and peered out the window; it had gotten dark out while she’d slept and the rain was coming down even harder than when she’d arrived. She didn’t feel at all rested even though she must have been out for a good couple of hours.

“Nearly midnight…Dolls threatened the staff with assaulting an officer if they tried to throw you out of here once visiting hours were over.” Wynonna’s lips twitched up into a smile and Nicole couldn’t help but return it. She probably would have been the one getting arrested if they’d tried to get her to leave before Waverly had woken up, badge or no badge. “I heard what you said to her earlier…I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but…”

“It’s alright,” Nicole shrugged, she hadn’t said anything to Waverly she wasn’t willing to let anyone know.

“...Did you mean it?”

“Of course, I did.” Nicole affirmed with a furrowed brow. How could Wynonna even ask her that?

“It wasn’t just ‘cause you thought you might lose her?” Wynonna challenged, a quirk in her eyebrow that made Nicole want to roll her eyes. She had been so sure they were past questioning Nicole’s motives. 

“Wy, I’m pretty sure I’ve wanted that since the day I met her.”

“Dude. You are _such_ a stereotype!” Wynonna laughed with a shake of her head and Nicole just shrugged. Maybe she was but she didn’t care in the slightest.

“Doesn’t change the fact it’s the truth. I’ve been thinking about it for months…after me and Shae…” Nicole shook her head, she didn’t want to think about that little secret she had kept from Waverly, but it was important for the point she was trying to make. “After all the forms were filled out and it was official, I was ready, but I don’t want to rush into this if she’s not ready.”

“How do you know she’s not?” Wynonna asked, an unreadable expression on her face as her eyes remained focused on Waverly. They’d never spoken this openly about her relationship with Waverly before and Nicole wouldn’t be lying if she said it felt a little uncomfortable, but if it was helping keep Wynonna’s mind occupied she’d carry on.

“There’s so much happening _all the time_ Wynonna. I know I’m not just some distraction from all the craziness for her but sometimes I wonder. If there wasn’t madness constantly breathing down our necks and she had time to really think about it, she might not choose a life with me over everything else she wants to do. Everything else she _could_ do once the curse is broken. If she left me by choice or…” Nicole gestured around them at the hospital room, a pain in her heart from the fear that this might not be the last time that they were in a similar position with anyone from their rag-tag team. “I don’t know what I’d do but if she stayed and she wasn’t happy then…that would be so much worse.”

Wynonna was smiling, and Nicole couldn’t for the life of her figure out why. She was just about to ask but Wynonna tipped her head towards where Waverly was lying, and Nicole slowly turned her head. She didn’t want to get her hopes up. Just a fraction of a second before Nicole had completely turned to Waverly, she felt a familiar squeeze to her hand but this time it was so much stronger and happy tears started to fall from her eyes.

“Hi.” Waverly’s voice was scratchy from disuse, but her smile was blinding.

“Hey.” Nicole sighed with pure relief. “How long have you been awake?”

“Just a little while.” Waverly shrugged quickly followed by a wince and Nicole was out of her seat with her hands on Waverly’s cheeks in the blink of an eye. “I’m ok…I’m ok.”

“Are you sure? I’ll get the doctor, I’ll be right back.” Nicole ran her finger down Waverly’s cheek and she tried to pry herself away, but she was stuck. Waverly was awake, and she couldn’t stop looking in her eyes. 

“I’ll do it.” Wynonna said quietly from behind them before she slipped out of the room.

“Hey,” Nicole said again as Waverly’s hand came up to rest on top of the one against her cheek.

“You don’t really believe that do you?”

“What?”

“That I’d be unhappy if I stayed here once the curse is broken, if I stayed with you?” There was such concern in Waverly’s eyes that Nicole had to look away. “Hey…” Waverly squeezed Nicole’s hand and she brought her gaze back to Waverly’s. “I want you. Always. Even if our lives become super boring after Wynonna sends every stinking Revenant back to hell.”

“Y-yeah?” Nicole choked back a sob and Waverly nodded.

“Want to know what I was doing before my little accident?” Waverly asked, a sweet smile on her face and Nicole laughed.

“Please don’t call it that…you could have _died!”_ Nicole shook her head at her girlfriend’s need to make even the worst situation sound adorable.

“But I didn’t.” Waverly smiled, and Nicole nodded, yet another sigh of relief leaving her. “I was looking at a house. For me…and you. For once this is all over. We won’t need the protection of the homestead and I want somewhere that is _ours._ Just ours.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Waverly bit down on her lip and Nicole could see the gears working in her head. “While I was out did you…did you say you wanted to marry me? I swear I-“

“Yes.” Nicole cut her off. A smile so wide stretched across her face that it actually hurt. She couldn’t let Waverly think for a moment that she’d imagined it or dreamed it. “I want to do it properly though, I’m not proposing while you’re in the hospital.”

“Ok.” Waverly’s eyes crinkled; it was Nicole’s favorite thing about Waverly’s smile. Waverly’s body tensed up and Nicole quickly asked if she was still in pain. “No…well, yes but I want to kiss you right now and I can’t push myself up, so you need to come down here.”

“Oh.” Nicole smiled, granting Waverly’s request.

“She’s just woken up, Haught. Keep it in your pants.” Wynonna spoke from the doorway and Nicole pulled back just in time to see a doctor walk into the room. She looked quickly back down at Waverly, a pink hue on her cheeks and Nicole smiled. _There_ was her Waverly. Shyly smiling as the doctor walked over and began his examination.

Nicole didn’t doubt that Waverly would have a long, slow recovery process ahead of her. She’d been told how extensive some of the injuries were to her left leg and the surgery they’d had to do to stop the bleeding in her abdomen meant quite a few stitches, but she was alive and she’d been planning their future. She sat back down in the chair behind her, fingers interlocked with Waverly’s as she listened to everything the Doctor was saying.

“You’re incredibly lucky, Miss Earp” The doctor finished his check-up, seemingly satisfied.

“I know.” Waverly smiled, eyes fixed firmly on Nicole.

**Author's Note:**

> Been a while since I've written something within canon or a one-shot so this was fun! 
> 
> You can follow me on twitter @JNSbeth


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